S8 ::■ ■ ESSAY ON THE 



^SamMiala^grdma, or Sambhul, in the country oi.Oude, as it is declared in 

 iie se6tibn of the Scanda-piirdna, called \Samhhala-grdma-mahdtmya; and 

 there it remains still : both must have been compressed into a smaller 

 cdmpass,rp'artieularly the latter^ which includes but a very small spot of 

 ground. In that book we read; '* near ^Samhhala-grdma is a place called 

 1* ^Swetu-dwtpa, there Jnydna or knowledge is obtained." It is de- 

 ckred, mthe^ Atharvafia-Veda, that Vara'ha, or Vishnu, in the shape 

 of a boar, brought a portion of the /FM^ /j/^/z^ to Benares y at the con- 

 fluence of the Burn'd with the Gajiges, at the place called Vishnu-' 

 pddddaca, for the convenience of Brdhmens, and for the avowed purpose 

 of supplying them with genuine chalk/ I have not seen the above pas- 

 sage in the Vedas ; but I was assured that it is really to be found in them. 

 This is also mentioned in tlie Cdsi-clianda, a se61ion of the Scanda- 

 pitrdna, where it is said that Var aha brought :^ Sw et a-dwip a ^ to the 

 riiouth of the BMr;i'<i. Be this as it may, it is no longer to be seen 

 there : and it was hinted to me, that it had turned black, on account of 

 the impure and polluted tribes, in whose possession the holy city has 

 been for above six hundred years. 



VII. The White Island is considered in the Purdnas, as the abode 

 of the Mighty. Thus RaVana, anxious to signahze himself, is intro- 

 duced in the i^imij^'/i^, inquiring from Narad a, in what part of the 

 world the mighty ones dwelt, that he might go and fight them. The 

 mighty, says Na'rada, live in the White Island. The most ancient 

 inhabitants of Britain, in their romances, still call the White Island 

 Tnys-y-Cedeirn, the island of the mighty ones. The White Island is de- 

 clared to be the abode of the gods or Surdleyam : This would have been 

 expressed, in the west, by the Gothic tribes, by As-burgh in some of tl^e 



